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Kate stopped on the sidewalk and faced him. The night had turned cold, but there was virtually no wind, and their words collided in puffs of conversation in the glow of city lights.
“You led me to believe my father shipped Patrick off to Colombia so you wouldn’t be able to interview him. But you knew all along it was Jeremy Peel.”
He looked away, but there was no denial. “In fairness, I didn’t know if it was Peel, your father, or the CIA.”
“You mean Walker? The venture capital arm of the CIA?”
“I can’t get into details.”
“Of course you can’t,” she said with sarcasm. “It’s only Patrick’s life hanging in the balance. Why would you share any details?”
He drew a breath, then let it out slowly in a steam cloud of capitulationthat vaporized in the frosty night air. “All right. I’ll level with you. There was interagency distrust. Some folks in the CIA thought the purpose of the DOJ’s audit was to prove what a bad idea it is for the CIA to invest taxpayer dollars in private tech companies.”
“But that’s not what you’re trying to prove?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the audit really about? Stop playing games with me.”
“Are you pretending not to know? Or do you really need me to tell you?”
“Are you trying to piss me off? Or does it just come naturally to you?”
“Don’t get mad.”
“I’m beyondmad.First, you asked me to spy on my father’s company, but you wouldn’t tell me what Project Naïveté was. Then you asked me to be your informant and get Sandra Levy to tell me why she was willing to commit espionage, but you wouldn’t give me credentials to understand what code she was trying to steal. Now I’ve agreed to partner with the FBI to negotiate for Patrick’s release, and I still can’t get credentials to understand the code the kidnappers have demanded as ransom. Meanwhile, all these secrets could get Patrick killed!”
“I’ve done everything by the book.”
“It’s time for me to close this book.”
Kate turned and started up the sidewalk. Noah followed.
“Where are you going?”
“None of your business.”
He kept pace, walking at her side, talking fast to match her pace. “You know something, Kate? I thought Agent Lang was out of line when she asked what was more important to you, getting clearance or getting Patrick home safe. But maybe she had a point.”
“Nothing is more important to me than getting Patrick home.”
“Maybe. But something else isn’t far behind.”
“Kiss off, Noah.”
Her tone silenced him, and it surprised her as well. Kate wonderedif she was directing too much of her anger toward him. Patrick was unquestionably the priority, but she wished she could tell him exactly what that “something else” was. But he’d surely think her a desperate fool—or worse—for hoping any of this might explain her mother’s bizarre suicide note.
I did it for Kate.
“What if I told you that Sandra Levy did it for her daughter?”
Noah seemed puzzled. “What do you mean by ‘it’?”
The question was more pertinent than he could have possibly imagined.
“Not sure. But the more I learn, the less ‘it’looks like stealing code from Buck Technologies.”
“Are you suggesting Sandra Levy is innocent?”